The new Sauber C31 also went with a pullrod front suspension design like Ferrari

Only three of their rivals on this yearâ€™s grid have been in Formula One longer than Peter Sauberâ€™s team. After an excellent start to 2011, the teamâ€™s form fell away mid-way through the season following the decision to cease development of a controversial technology. â€śThe Sauber C31-Ferrari boasts a large number of promising new developments, but in other areas it is a systematic further development of last yearâ€™s car,â€ť says Sauber.

â€śWe are looking forward to another season working with our young and talented drivers,â€ť adds the Team Principal. â€śKamui will be competing in his third full season in F1. Last year we asked him to take on leadership responsibilities within the team and he has grown into the role. With his rookie season behind him Sergio is now approaching his second season, which is often the most difficult in a driverâ€™s Formula One career. Both drivers have huge potential and will work with the same race engineers as in 2011 to continue developing that promise. Esteban will be competing full-time in GP2 in his second season in the category and has shown â€“ most recently in the November test â€“ that he could also step into the car for a Grand Prix, if required.â€ť

Sauber (C) with his two main drivers to the right Kobayashi and Perez. To the far left is reserve driver Gutierrez

Young & quick

The personable Kamui Kobayashi (25) became an instant favorite of Formula One fans on his arrival in the sport, not least with his daring but fair overtaking moves. â€ś2012 will be not only my third season in Formula One, but also my third with the same team,â€ť says the young Japanese. â€śWeâ€™ve been through a lot together and can benefit from our shared experiences. In my first year with the team we had a bad start but a good second half to the season. The second year was the exact reverse. In our third year together we should be a reliable bet to finish consistently in the points. Iâ€™m really looking forward to the new season with the Sauber F1 Team.â€ť

Summarizing all the efforts put into developing the new Sauber C31-Ferrari, Chief Designer Matt Morris says: â€śThe C31 is revolutionary where we had fresh ideas, particularly at the rear of the car, and it is an evolution where we knew we could carry over certain approaches. We had to improve on the weaknesses we identified on the C30, but at the same time we wanted to maintain its strengths.â€ť

The engineers opted again to go with a high chassis design. However, according to the new 2012 regulations, the nose cone needs to be lower, which is a safety requirement. As a result, the nose cone has quite a different shape to how it was in the past. The chassis itself shows absolute minimum cross sections all the way to the cockpit.

By an overall tidier design, the front suspension has been optimized for integration with the chassis and the upright. Otherwise itâ€™s a traditional layout with a pushrod and a high-level wishbone.

The new Sauber C31

Packaging was further optimized under the side pods in order to open up more aerodynamic development scope in that area. The cooling layout is based around a similar philosophy to the C30, because that proved to be effective. It helps to get the volume of the coolers forward and allows the design of very compact rear bodywork.

A familiar element of the car is the Ferrari engine, onto which an all-new carbon transmission is bolted â€“ also supplied by Ferrari. The longitudinally mounted transmission is a very tidy, neat unit. The entire rear of the car is much more tightly packaged, helped by the gearbox design, and in addition the engineers have gone in some new directions around the floor at the back of the car. The exhaust tailpipe positions are regulated in 2012, which has had a further effect on how the bodywork design has been set out.

The rear suspension is now a pullrod design. It shows a long pullrod towards the front of the gearbox and wide angled wishbones. This design allows improved packaging of the rear spring and damper elements. Despite the change from pushrod to pullrod, in terms of kinematics the engineers maintained a similar direction to the one they went in for the C30.

Finally, Morris casts a glance at the next steps after the roll-out of the Sauber C31-Ferrari: â€śThe current plan is to launch a fairly basic roll-out version of the car, which was defined quite some time ago. We will then be testing development parts during the upcoming weeks with a late upgrade for the first race on 18th March in Australia. Therefore the car will look quite different in Melbourne compared to the roll-out car.â€ť

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